PittsburghTim's Forum Topics

I’ve been thinking about the space that my tablesaw consumes (not just the saw, but the space needed in front of it) and have been toying with the idea of selling it and replacing it’s functionality with a Festool TS75. As background, I have a USA-made Delta contractor’s saw with a 30” Beismeyer fence. I use it mostly f...

Another forum topic has caused me to wonder about the failure mode of carbide router bits and blades. I have always been fearful of using any carbide bit or blade that has been dropped in the shop. I know that carbide is extremely hard and I assume that it is brittle as well. For the very few times that it has happened, I have never used them...

I am redoing our master bedroom. Fresh paint, new trim, and light fixtures. My wife wanted to leave the hardwood floors exposed. I pulled up the carpet and 99% of the floor looks great. The floor is oak with the original finish from 1958, which I’n guessing was varnish. My problem is that there are a few small marks near where the tac...

I am new to turning, having made some pens, tool handles, and a few other small items with good results. This past week, I tried my first small bowl from a piece of 2.5” thick walnut left over from a coffee table project. I am using the Easy wood Tools full-size chisels. I am very happy with them, but when I arrived at the final shape, ...

I am in the process of installing a leg vise on my workbench and it came time to install the brass garter on the chop. Rather than surface mount it, I wanted to mount it flush so I had to create a round, recessed area. I decided to try the Freud inlay setup I have used in the past to inlay bowties in tabletops, only in reverse from how I norma...

The other day, after hearing about the nut in Texas who went crazy with a knife followed by a story on Congress trying to stop gun violence, it came to me. Our country does not have a problem with gun violence or knife violence, but hand violence. Behind every knifing or shooting, there’s a hand. I’ve yet to see a gun or knife be ...

I have really been getting into hand tools for the last year or so and have picked up several planes along the way. I have not tuned up the Stanley fore plane and Record jointer plane as I had no handy way to flatten the soles. For the smaller planes, I’ve used a piece of float glass, but it was not long enough to do the job on the longe...

Does anyone out there have a reliable source for quality panel/carpenter saws? While I could go with Lie Nilesen saws, I would like a classic rip and crosscut saw from Disston. I don’t have the time to scour the antique stores. I know a few members rehab and sell planes. Do any of you know of a source for quality handsaws, either membe...

I just finished tuning a Millers Falls #8 plane (Picture below) and am very pleased with the results. My next job is a Record #7 Jointer plane. Unlike the Millers Falls plane and the ealier Stanley Bailey planes that I have seen, the frog on the Record plane is not a flat casting where the frog will meet the blade.
On his video about tu...

Anyone aware of any schools/classes for woodworking or woodworking clubs in the Pittsburgh.Western PA area. It seems like all of the schools of any note are several states away. I’ve not come up with much by searching on Google.
I’ve learned mostly from magazines, books, TV, and trial and error. I’m not knocking those as ...

I was finishing a coffee table project this weekend and to allow for movement between the legs and the top, I needed some figure 8 fasteners. Drove up to Rockler and was disappointed in that the new ones they are receiving are thin, stampings rather than the normal washer-like pieces they used to carry. Even worse was that the stamped versions...

I’m making a coffee table from a walnut slab. I am placing three bow-tie shaped patches on each side of the slab to stabilize a crack that ran through the slab. I’ve already filled the crack with epoxy, but want to use the patches to protect against further movement.
My question is whether titebond III will work well with the we...

Currently, I only own two Record hand planes, a low angle block plane and a #4 jack plane. I have learned to sharpen them with sandpaper on float glass and tuned up, they work remarkably well. I would like to expand my use of them in the shop as I find it much more relaxing than my delta jointer. I cannot see paying over $400 for a plane, nor ...

I am working on a walnut coffee table in the style of George Nakashima. The legs will be made from 2 3/4 inch walnut slab and the top is a roughly 4 ft by 4 ft slab from the crotch of a walnut tree. The figure is amazing.
I am trying to decide how to finish it. I don’t want to stain it, only apply a clear gloss finish. The finish mu...

Has anyone been able to buy one in the past few years. I am on a waiting list with the only dealer they have and no one will even venture a guess as to when they will be available or when they last received one. If it’s hopeless, does anyone have experience with one that is equal?
I would like to be able to make variable spaced throug...